10
10
392
11
11
393
16
16
426
11
11
437
14
14
438
11
11
439
12
12
447
28
28
448
24
24
460
10
10
H4
11
11
YCA2a/b
17, 19
17, 19
450
8
8
456
16
16
458
18
18
464 a/b/c/d
13, 16, 17
13, 16, 17
“Now I see from this table that the lengths of the strands for the suspect and crime scene sample are identical. What does this tell us?”
“It tells us that there were no exclusions. This means that the suspect could not be eliminated as a possible source of the DNA in this sample from the victim’s fingernails.”
An eerie silence hung over the courtroom before the prosecutor spoke again.
“And were you able to establish the probability of a randomly selected male matching this particular DNA profile?”
“Yes. In the general population as a whole, this profile or ‘haplotype’ as we call it, is likely to occur in one in every four thousand males.”
“One in four thousand, is that correct?”
“Yes, one in four thousand.”
“Your witness,” said Sarah Jensen, turning to the defense table.
But as Alex was about to rise, the judge spoke.
“We’ll take a twenty minute recess.”
Thursday, 20 August 2009 — 11:55
“Will he live?” asked the driver of the police car as the gurney was raised into the ambulance outside the parking structure.
“Oh yeah,” said the ambulance attendant. “It’s not life threatening.”
“Pity.”
There was a certain amount of macho posturing in this interjection. The cop was not, in fact, as hard as he was trying to sound. He was a rookie and had never killed a man before. Nor was he looking forward to doing so, although he knew that at some point in his career he might have to. Even the sight of Martine and her condition, couldn’t make him wish that the man was dead.
“It’ll be okay,” said his partner.
The rookie backed off as the ambulance crew closed the doors and drove off.
Martine was being treated in situ by a second ambulance crew. Another squad car had been summoned and a victim chaperone was taking her preliminary statement.
“So what do we know?” asked the rookie. His partner had been getting further information while he had stood aside, trying to calm down after the shock of the impact.
“Name’s Manning, Louis Manning. Has a string of priors for possession and dealing.”
“Anything for rape or indecent assault?”
“No. Just dope.”
“I guess that’s gonna change now.”
“Uh huh. He cornered her as she was getting into her car. She’s a reporter on the Claymore case.”
“No shit.”
The rookie looked over to where she was making a statement to the other team.
“She’s cute.”
“She’s gotta be. She does the TV news.”
The rookie looked away embarrassed when Martine noticed him starting.
“That her car?”
“No his. Hers is up on Level Four. She was getting into her car for a change of makeup or whatever and he was getting something out from the passenger side of his when he jumped her.”
“Didn’t she see him approaching?”
“His car was right next to hers.”
“Sounds like a setup.”
“Probably was.”
“She okay?”
